Kent residents voted overwhelmingly to keep Dana Ralph as mayor.
Ralph received 70.96% (7,493 votes) of the vote while challenger Dawn Bennett had 28.59% (3,019 votes), according to King County Elections results posted Tuesday night, Nov. 2.
Voters elected Ralph over Jim Berrios in November 2017 with 53.6% percent of the vote. Ralph served on the Kent City Council from 2012 to 2017.
Whether or not to expand the Kent Police Department’s number of officers loomed as one of the major differences between Ralph and Bennett last month at a Kent Chamber of Commerce mayoral debate.
Ralph told the audience that she has asked the City Council to increase police staffing by five officers next year by unfreezing positions (frozen due to COVID-19) and that she will continue to advocate for more officers.
“The amount of police we have, we don’t need five more officers,” Bennett said in response. “We need to do policing differently in this town.”
Ralph, who in January will start a second four-year term, had a quick response.
“Our police department is understaffed and underfunded,” Ralph said. “We are probably understaffed by about 30 officers.”
Bennett said city funds need to be spent elsewhere.
“We need to readjust our budget when it comes to policing,” Bennett said. “We need to reallocate some of those dollars.”
Voter turnout in Kent was at 20.56% of registered voters as of 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to King County Elections.
As far as campaign contributions, Ralph has raised $124,884 and Bennett $92,575, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission website on Nov. 2.
Ralph had endorsements from State Rep. Pat Sullivan, D-Covington and State Rep. Tina Orwall, D-Des Moines as well as Kent City Council members Bill Boyce, Toni Troutner, Zandria Michaud, Les Thomas and Marli Larimer, according to her campaign website. Mayors from most South King County cities also endorsed Ralph, including Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus.
Bennett had endorsements from several state senators and representatives, including Sen. Mona Das, D-Kent and State Rep. Debra Entenman, D-Kent, according to her campaign website. She also had endorsements from the King County Democrats, 47th Legislative District Democrats and the 11th Legislative District Democrats.
Ralph said at the chamber’s mayoral forum that she is not a Republican or a Democrat but an independent.
Bennett, a Kent resident for 23 years, works as executive director of the Multicultural Education Rights Alliance, which she also co-founded. The nonprofit works to ensure all kids, regardless of their race or background, have supports in place to succeed in school. It works with teachers, develop mentors, provide trainings to create equitable, humane and culturally responsive classrooms and school environments.
When Ralph announced she was running for reelection, she issued the following statement:
“Our work isn’t over yet – we need to do more to make Kent an even better place to be,” Ralph said. “We must continue investing in beautification efforts to remove litter and graffiti. We must continue to invest in human services and help our nonprofits increase capacity to coordinate care for our most vulnerable. We need to drive down crime so everyone feels safe. Additionally, we must recommit ourselves to ensuring the city of Kent serves every resident equitably and gives people the respect and compassion they deserve.”
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